Welcome...

to the webpage of the IWW in Australia.

clock If you are a working person you might have noticed that there are a lot of things stacked against you. This little page is run by the Industrial Workers of the World; our aim is to even the odds.
We believe that all workers would benefit from forming One Big Union to assist organising the ongoing struggle against all those who think themselves our betters. The pre-amble to our constitution ends, "It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organised, not only for everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organising industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old."
Sounds pretty true to us. If it does to you, maybe you should join us. Think about it anyway!
Or just have a browse around our website. Of course all articles found here are the expression of the writers not the union unless specifically stated otherwise. We are a union not a party.
Please note, we have had to change ISP's ,so if you have tried to message one of our contacts recently and not got a reply please try again as the new system is now up and running.

The Police: The Case Against

There is a commonly held assumption that the police are a necessary presence in a civilised society, one that ensures the preservation of social order. And yet this assumption is deeply ideological, blurring the distinction between the act of policing with the existence of an institutional police force.

http://politeire.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/the-police-the-case-against/

Weakening the Dam

A pamphlet put out by the Twin Cities IWW branch for the purpose of promoting the development of workplace organisers, based on their experiences of organising at work. It offers the sort of practical advice we could all be implementing in our own workplaces.

     

http://libcom.org/library/weakening-dam-twin-cities-iww

Class conscious unionism is made illegal by the capitalist class. Segregation was once legal. Do we accept wage-slavery?

 If your union breaks labour law in Australia, your union is 'de-certified'. As long as unions are committed to being 'in business', this 'de-certification threat will be an effective block to workers' power in controlling wages and working conditions. Radical subjectivity is the basis of any effective movement towards more freedom and that's what 'progressive' means for the working class: progressing out of wage-slavery toward more freedom. Playing by the rules set up by the ruling class through their polytricksters only ensures a handcuffed working class forced in to class collaboration. Fascists taught the democratic bourgeoisie how to deal with the class struggle--make it illegal.

My body, my rules: a case for rape and domestic violence survivors becoming workplace organizers (trigger warning)

Liberté Locke, a Starbucks Workers Union organizer, writes about how violence at work and in our personal lives are similar, how domestic abusers and bosses use the same techniques of control and that we need to fight both.

http://libcom.org/library/my-body-my-rules-case-rape-domestic-violence-survivors-becoming-workplace-organizers

Class and class struggle - an introduction

An explanation of what we on libcom.org mean by the word "class", and related terms such as "working class" and "class struggle."

http://libcom.org/library/class-class-struggle-introduction

The IWW in International Perspective: comparing the North American and Australasian Wobblies

American labour historiography has tended to assume, as Patrick Renshaw does, that the Locals of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) that appeared in countries like Canada, Britain and Australia 'slavishly followed all the American trends, debates, and schisms'.[1] While it is true that the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian IWW Locals inherited their ideology and organisational principles more or less intact from their American parent after the founding conference in Chicago in 1905, intriguing contrasts nonetheless emerged in the application of these shared ideas and principles on the two sides of the Pacific Ocean.

Italy and Greece: Rule by the Bankers

It looks as though, by Monday, both Greece and Italy will be ruled by so-called ‘technocratic’ governments. Even though both Greek prime minister George Papandreou and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi were elected comfortably in parliamentary polls and were never defeated in any vote of confidence in parliament, they have been ousted – to be replaced by unelected ex-central bankers and former executives of hedge funds and investment banks. From now on, financial markets will rule directly over the lives of the Italian and Greek people.

http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/568.php

Liberals exposed as kingmakers in bitter chicken spat

A shadowy astroturf group led by two Liberal Party operatives has emerged to bend public opinion in the bitter Baiada Poultry workplace dispute.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/11/17/liberals-exposed-as-kingmakers-in-bitter-chicken-spat/

Poultry workers hold picket line despite police attack

Despite Fair Work Australia putting in place an injunction banning National Union of Workers (NUW) officials from taking part in the Baiada poultry workers’ picket line, workers and community supporters were able to hold off an attempt by riot police to break the picket late on November 11.

http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/49435

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